1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the telecommunications field and, in particular, to a telecommunications system, service control point and method capable of pre-screening a telephone call to help prevent telephone toll fraud.
2. Description of Related Art
In the telecommunications field, telephone toll fraud is an ever-increasing problem that can be very expensive to telephone users and telephone companies. The typical telephone toll fraud scheme involves a scam artist tricking a telephone user (calling party) into calling what appears to be a domestic long distance call or an 800/888 free call, but instead the call is actually a toll call or an international call both of which can have a very high billing charge back rate. Therefore, the calling party currently takes a chance whenever they call an unfamiliar telephone number, because the call may look like a domestic long distance call or 800/888 free call but in actuality it is a costly toll call or a costly international call. And, only after the calling party receives their telephone bill do they find out that these unfamiliar telephone numbers were in fact expensive xe2x80x9cpay-per-callxe2x80x9d numbers (e.g., 900 numbers).
The international telephone toll fraud schemes often work because it is not always easy for the calling party to tell when they are calling an international number. For example, there are situations where the calling party can simply dial a three-digit area code and number to reach someone in a foreign country. This is not like the typical situation where the calling party must dial a xe2x80x9c011xe2x80x9d (international access code), a country code, a city code and a number to reach someone in a foreign country. Scam artists take advantage of this difference by promoting calls having an 809 area code (for example) which if dialed connect the calling party to someone in the Caribbean who charges the calling party a large fee. In fact, there are dozens of these three-digit area code calls that are really xe2x80x9cinternationalxe2x80x9d calls. The scam artists often promote these 809 type calls in uniquely deceptive ways. For instance, the scam artist may leave an xe2x80x9curgentxe2x80x9d message on an answering machine, pager or computer of the telephone user trying to get them to call an 809 number. The message often falsely claims that a family member of the telephone user has been injured, that they have won a prize, or that there is a problem with their credit. If the telephone user returns the call, they may be putting money in the pockets of the scam artist.
Similar to international calls are 900 type calls which also charge a calling party a fee for simply dialing the telephone number. However, providers of 900 calls are supposed to follow the Federal Trade Commission""s 900-Number Rule that requires them to disclose the cost of the 900 call before those costs are charged to the calling party. In addition, the 900-Number Rule states that the providers of 800/888 free calls are prohibited from automatically connecting the calling party to a 900 call. Unfortunately, some providers do not follow the 900-Number Rule and automatically connect an 800/888 free call to a 900 number and charge the calling party for the 900 call.
To date, there does not appear to be any way of informing a calling party when one of their calls may be part of a telephone toll fraud scheme. Accordingly, there is a need for a telecommunications system, service control point and method capable of pre-screening a telephone call to help prevent telephone toll fraud. This need and other needs are satisfied by the telecommunications system, service control point and method of the present invention.
The present invention includes a telecommunications system, service control point and method that are capable of pre-screening a telephone call to help prevent telephone toll fraud. More specifically, the telecommunications system includes a service control point capable of receiving information about a telephone call originated by a calling party, and further capable of determining whether the telephone call has a fraudulent attribute. If the telephone call has a fraudulent attribute, then the calling party is informed that there is a possibility of telephone toll fraud occurring if the telephone call is connected to a called party. And, if the telephone call does not have a fraudulent attribute, then the telephone call is automatically connected to the called party.